How do you navigate uncomfortable emotions in such violent information ecosystems?
By Gisel Sánchez, from Vita Activa
Are you feeling repulsion lately when you enter social media and see that everything is violence, conflict and aggression? Maybe, like me, you run away from social media platforms (with a lot of effort) with the feeling that everything is terrible, that nothing makes sense, that there are no reliable sources and that anything goes.
Especially if we are talking about news content, not only are we manifesting distrust as an audience, but we directly develop an aversion to approaching that content. We tend to avoid them because they generate anxiety, bad moods and a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, which brings nothing but guilt or sadness to our routines.
Now imagine: what is life like for those who, in addition to using the platforms for their personal purposes, must report 24/7 on global conflicts and controversies as their profession? I am talking, above all, about human rights defenders, journalists, reporters, activists, who are permanently exposed to negative news and popular accusations in order to do their job.
Many companies that work with media or social impact decided to leave X during 2024 because, according to them, their business model turned towards the spread of disinformation, hate speech and became an extremely unsafe place to debate and express yourself. People fear that the same will happen with Meta’s policy updates, a company that decided to eliminate the data verification stage of its moderation, claiming that it was a tool conducive to censorship.
This problem clearly does not end with the exile of one platform or another. What is happening is that this adverse climate of polarization, distrust and disenchantment is taking over our democracies as well. We cannot separate the digital atmosphere from the “real” one.
And so, many of us ask ourselves: how can we cope with this constant exposure to disaster and violence without falling into despair? What can we do, as content creators or as audiences, to navigate this hostile information ecosystem, without abandoning the spaces where these important conversations take place in order to grow as a society?
The reflections I share with you here were developed by journalists and activists present at the workshop co-facilitated by Vita Activa and The Engine Room called “Collective and individual care in our initiatives, towards digital resilience.”
Information paralysis and hopelessness
To understand the macro-level importance of these concerns, we can use the concept of “apocalypse fatigue” by psychologist and economist Per Espen Stoknes. This fatigue comes from being constantly exposed to frightening and hopeless messages that awaken our survival state. We then become exhausted and try to avoid thinking about social issues because they seem too big, too complex or too distant in time to address them effectively. Our willingness to respond is reduced and we resign ourselves to the fact that everything will simply remain the same. Does this sound a bit like your social media consumption in the last few months?
At the same time, platforms are built to be addictive, to “ hijack” our attention at all costs; and their algorithms are made to viralize the most shocking content, with more interaction, regardless of whether they are false or harmful to our collective health. So, what is rewarded in these spaces is controversy, which generates discussion and non-reflective dissemination. In the long run, this generates more and more polarization, and isn’t conducive to connecting with diversity. Rather, it discourages debate and social consensus. In fact, social media (and traditional media) have built a vision that “the world cannot be fixed” and that “the sides” have no common ground. Some studies indicate that those who consume the most news see the world as worse, even though it is steadily improving in terms of human rights.
A day to take care of ourselves and connect
During our meeting in Santiago de Chile, we set out to find some proposals on how to restore information ecosystems as safe and livable places. Our workshop was a space full of laughter, movement, deep reflections and the desire to take care of ourselves. We designed each moment so that emotions would be central, because they shape our experiences in this information ecosystem that, as we have seen, is often designed only to make us feel fear, anger and disconnection among ourselves.
We began the workshop with a creative exercise. Each participant wrote, in the form of fiction, what a typical Monday is like in their life. Some recognized themselves as superheroines who wear a cape at some point of the day to help others, others as beings from another planet who put on a helmet to connect between the digital and analog worlds.
Most of us agree that the beginning of the week is usually characterized by anxiety. Monday starts full of pending tasks and with the feeling that maybe you can’t do everything, but, in the end, you must be able to. On top of that, there’s a belief that what was done yesterday is outdated and no longer generates socially relevant impact.
It was much easier to identify the emotions that run through our routines when we used the wheel of emotions as a tool. In a practical exercise, we filled it collectively with post-its. One participant commented: “When I wrote down my day and stuck my emotions on the common wheel, I realized that I spent more time in frustration than in hope.”
In another part of the workshop, we reflected on how polarization and algorithms contribute to emotional fatigue, and explored practical tools for self-care and community care. One attendee noted, “Taking care of myself is not selfish, but necessary in order to keep going.”
Some participants, in this sense, recognized how work can be a refuge, but also a source of burnout. “When I read the news early in the morning, I feel insecure and anxious, but then, working with organizations, I regain some optimism,” said one of the activists. However, they also noted the challenges of balancing work and personal life: “My home is my office and virtual meetings never end. I never have time for myself.
The workshop left many reflections on how information ecosystems amplify emotions such as anger and frustration. One of the reporters confessed, “It’s exhausting to think that, as journalists, we deal with the same issues over and over again, but nothing seems to change.”
In addition, news overload and social media pressure exacerbate burnout. “The ecosystem is permeated by constant opinion. Comments on social media have become spaces for attack, and that affects our relationship with audiences and with ourselves,” said another journalist.
At the end of the dynamic, to relax with a bit of humor, we used memes to answer key questions about taking care of our emotions in our work and activism.
So what could a more encouraging and sustainable information ecosystem for journalists look like?
By reimagining our scenarios, we project ecosystems where:
- There are spaces to talk about mental health and the impact of emotions.
- Hopeful and alternative narratives prevail.
- We practice forms of activism that do not exhaust us, but rather nourish us and allow us to grow without guilt.
Although the challenges are enormous in this socio-political context, there are many reasons to continue to strive for better information ecosystems through love, hope and above all, collective strategies that allow us to sustain these practices in everyday life.
We are a free, anonymous and confidential helpline. We offer emotional and psychological support to journalists, activists and internet users who are experiencing stress, burnout, chronic fatigue and/or digital violence. ????
Find us at apoyo@vita-activa.org ( Spanish) and support@vita-activa.org (English) | @VitaActivaOrg (FB,X,IG,TikTok,BSky) | +52155-8171-1117 (Whatsapp, Signal)